Overview of the Maya interface

- Let's start off by taking a brief lookat the Maya interface.Now, Maya has a lot of functionality.And because of that it hasa lot of stuff in the interface.But, the interface itself is verywell organized.So if we understand the organizationand how things are laid out,we'll understand the package a little bit better.So let's start off at the top-left corner.And you'll see that we have a menu baralong the top.Now this has a lot of the standard thingsthat you're familiar with.Such as a File menu that allows youto open and close files.

An Edit menu that gives you functionallitysuch as Cut, Copy and Paste.We also have a Create menu.Allows you to create any numberof different types of objects.A Select menu, allows you to selectand deselect things.As well as a number of other onessuch as Modify, Display and Windows.But as you get passed the Windows menuyou'll start to see onesthat are a little bit more custom.In this case we see one that says Mesh.Now Mesh is a modeling function.And that's because we have themodeling menu set active.

Now we have this little pull-down menu here.And this allows us to actually changehow our menus are.So if I go over to Rigging,notice how these menu options change.If I go to say, Rendering,they will change again.So we have actually more functionalitythan we can fit on the menu with Maya.So, if there's something that you don't seeor can't get to,the first thing we wanna do is just make sureyou're in the right menu set.Now, you can also create custom menus sets.But for right now, we're just gonna usethe stock ones.

So I'm gonna put this back to Modeling.Now, along this second line herewe have our menu selection here.We also have some graphic ways todo common functions such asthis one here, which will create a new scene,open a scene or save a scene.We also have an undo and a redo.In addition to this we have Selection Masks.Which allows us to select by type of object.And we also have our Snap options.Which allow us to snap the different thingsas we're creating things.Here we have some rendering commands.

So if we want to render a sceneall we have to do is press one of this buttonsand we can render an image.Now along the right here we havesome additional functionality.We have one here called the Channel boxand we can toggle that on or off.We also can toggle on or offwhat are called our Tool settings.And these are ways that we can selector move different types of objects.So, whatever tool you have active,you can change your options hereand we can toggle that on or off.We also have what's called an Attribute Editor.And when we toggle thisit actually shows up here as a tapped panel.

So here we have the Channel boxwhich will show you your objects position,rotation and scale.And the Attribute Editor allows youto dig deeper into that.And we don't have a thing on the screen right now.So, we'll get to use this a little bit later.And then finally we have another onefor what's called the Modeling toolkit,which allows us some additional modeling features.So I'm gonna toggle that offand let's just go back to the Channel box.Now here we have what are called Shells.And these are standard lists of commandsand they're graphic.

So if you wanted to say for example,create a sphere or a cubewe could do that here.And so each majorfunction of the packagehas its own shelve.And you can create thingsjust from the shelve.Now this is a very handy way toget to have functions very quickly.I use this a lot.Now you can also create your own custom shelves.And that's a really great way to add incustom functionality.Now, along the left-hand side of the interface,we have our Select tool.So we have a standard Select.

We also have what's called the Lasso tool.And a Paint Select tool.We also have our standard Move,Rotate and Scale.So, if you're manipulating objectsyou'll be using a lot of these.Now a little further to the leftwe have our Layouts panel.Now, I'm on a reduced resolution screen.So, there are some layoutsthat are not showing here.But let me just show you how this works.We have our standard layout here,which is just a 3D view.If we click on this one,it changes it to another layout.

And in this case we have a 4 view.We have a top, front and side viewin addition to our perspective view.And then we have other ones here.This one gives you what's called an Outlinerwith a perspective view.This one here is for animation.It gives you an animation curveand so on.So I'm gonna go back to my standard layout here.But you can very easilyjust switch between layouts right here.Now along the bottomwe have a couple of different panels here.

One, we have our Time slider.So when you start to animate,this is how you will scrub though the animationand know which frame you're on.Now, below that, we have what's called the Range slider.So this is the total length of the animationas well as how much of that we're seeing.So I have this littleslider here and this selections allows meto slide through the entire animation.Now the outer numbers from oneto 200 are the total length of the animation.And the inner numbers are what we are seeing.

So in this case it's from one to 120.Now all I have to do is just clickon one of these boxes hereand I can actually change that.Click on this tab here and I canchange what portion of that we see.And then I can slide it here as well.Now along the bottom here we havewhat I call a Milk man.So if you want to you can actuallyjust type text-based commandsinto Maya.And then finally, along the bottom here,we have a Help line.And this is great because all you have to dois just hover over any tooland it will tell you what it does.

And then when you start to use that toolit will give you hints as to how to procede.So if you don't really know how to do somethingjust go ahead and look at this bottom line here,and it may give you enough of a hintto get you going.Now along the rightwe have a couple of buttons here.This button heresays Animation Preferences.But if we click on this it actually gets usto actually all the preferences.It just kinda defaults to Animation Preferences.But we can go into all of our other preferences.And we'll get to these in just a little bit.

And then we also have one here forthe Script Editor.Now we're not gonna get intoscript editing here.We do have some courseson scripting in Maya.But, this is really how you can get intothe guts of Maya and actually program Maya.So this is a really great wayto create simple commandsor even more complex commands.So as you can see this is a pretty cohesive layout.And as we start to work with Mayayou'll start to get the hangof how to use this interface.

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Released

6/22/2015

Need to learn Maya? Start here. This course covers the latest features in Maya 2016, while giving you a strong foundation in all the core tools, including 3D modeling, texturing, rendering, animation, and more. It starts with the basics of selecting and manipulating objects and organizing scenes, as you learn the interface and explore Maya's features. Author George Maestri then takes you through polygonal modeling, creating and refining meshes, sculpting, and NURBS modeling. After you begin to understand modeling, George will show you how to create and apply materials to surfaces—adding color, texture, and reflectivity. He'll then integrate cameras, lighting and depth-of-field effects in the rendering process, and finally, show how to add movement and life to your work with Maya's animation tools.